Accelerated video playback compromises memory encoding and retrieval, meta-analysis suggests.

Understand the news at your own pace: To make the content more accessible while maintaining technical depth, this news story has been presented in two formats:

• Simplified version: Ideal for those who are not in the field, but are curious about the subject.

• Technical version: Aimed at readers with prior knowledge or professional interest in the topic. Choose the reading that best suits you—or enjoy both! It's become a habit: many people speed up podcasts, video lessons, and even series to save time and consume more content. But does this practice really help you learn better? Research suggests otherwise. According to a meta-analysis that evaluated 24 studies, watching content at speeds much faster than normal can significantly reduce your ability to remember and retain information.

  
  

  At speeds up to 1.5x, the impact is small and almost imperceptible. But when playback reaches 2x or 2.5x, retention drops significantly. To give you an idea, someone who would normally score 75% on a test can lose up to 17 percentage points just by watching the video at accelerated speed.

  
  

  This effect occurs because the brain has a limit on information processing. The so-called "working memory" can only handle a certain amount of data at a time. When the speed is too fast, there is cognitive overload: some of the information is lost and cannot be transferred to long-term memory.

  
  

  Interestingly, older adults suffer even more from this effect. Adults between the ages of 61 and 94 had greater difficulty following and retaining information at accelerated speeds than young people between the ages of 18 and 36. The conclusion is clear: speeding up videos may seem productive, but when the goal is to learn and memorize, it's still best to respect the brain's natural timing.

  Accessible language: (News produced with the help of AI) The widespread practice of watching videos at higher-than-normal speeds (1.25x; 1.5x; 2x; 2.5x) raises important neurocognitive questions. A meta-analysis of 24 recent studies investigated the effects of this strategy on learning and information retrieval processes. The results indicate that, although moderate speeds (up to 1.5x) cause only minor impairments, accelerations greater than 2x have a moderate to severe negative impact on cognitive performance.

  
  

  The central mechanism lies in the limitation of working memory, which is responsible for the temporary manipulation of information before its consolidation in long-term memory. When the data flow—typically 150 words per minute—is accelerated to 300 or 450 words per minute, cognitive overload occurs. This impairs adequate semantic encoding and compromises both immediate memorization and later retrieval.

  
  

  The comparative analysis revealed that the decline in performance varies proportionally with speed: at 1.5x, the average reduction is only two percentage points; At 2.5x, the loss reaches 17 percentage points. This difference is equivalent to transforming performance considered good (75% correct) into unsatisfactory results.

  
  

  Additionally, studies show greater vulnerability among older adults (61 to 94 years old), possibly related to the physiological decline of memory functions. Although young adults show greater tolerance, there is no evidence that frequent viewing of content at high speed mitigates long-term cognitive impairments. Therefore, caution is recommended when adopting accelerated playback, especially in educational and continuing education contexts.

  Technical language: (News produced with the help of IA) Sources: Como assistir a vídeos em velocidade acelerada afeta seu cérebro - BBC News Brasil ACCESS THIS PUBLICATION:
  

  

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